After becoming interested in the upcoming EverQuest Next being revealed at SOE Live on August 1, 2013 in Las Vegas at Planet Hollywood, I’ve done a lot of soul searching on the impact of the entire EverQuest franchise. As a result I began re-reading my some of my old articles.
SOE bestowed the MMORPG community with a revolutionary experience with EQ and so I thought it might be useful to list my previous articles complete with thoughts, observations and speculations. Most of my articles do reference EverQuest but these are the ones that deal with it directly. As time has made the past cleared, my opinions have changed and matured. It’s been a long, strange trip but one I don’t regret.
-Wolfshead
EverQuest Articles
Open Letter to SOE 2004 Guild Summit – May 29, 2004 – My original call to action to save EverQuest that was a precursor to launching this website and my career as a video game designer.
One strange anecdote that happened during this boycott was this article started off as a forum post originally posted on Woody Ahern’s GU Comics forums. Woody and his moderators were notorious for running a tight ship and were quite overzealous and draconian in their moderation of the forums. Is there such a thing as a nice forum moderator? As my post became more popular, Woody threatened to ban me from his forums for some minor philosophical disagreement he had with me regarding the direction of the boycott. I guess he wanted the boycott on his terms — nobody else’s — and I believe after Woody called it off, that SOE flew him out to San Diego and wined and dined him with barbeque, a baseball game and swag. Hard to conduct a revolution on a full stomach. True story.
The EverQuest Paradox Revealed – October 31, 2005 – This is probably one of my favorite articles on EQ where I tried to deduce what made that MMORPG so magical. I tried to explain the paradox of decreasing character power versus mob power and the wonderful consequences that result from that: community.
EverQuest: Masters of the Quest – February 25, 2007 – Masters of the Quest was an actual SOE article posted on the official SOE EverQuest website. I’m glad I saved the text for posterity because I thought that SOE really shined here and captured what a fantasy virtual world could truly be with the sense of the unexpected that results from live dynamic GM events. To this day this is the only place you can find this on the web.
Brad McQuaid: The Once and Future King? – June 17, 2009 – Brad McQuaid went from hero to zero in the MMO industry. Others MMO impresarios like Curt Schilling have experienced a similar fate. Brad let a lot of people down with his leadership of Sigil and Vanguard — both employees and fans. Still, I think Brad’s heart was always in the right spot and to this day he’s still one of the most passionate voices for fantasy virtual worlds. I for one am glad he’s back working as a game designer for EverQuest Next and doing what he loves.
EverQuest 2 Articles
EverQuest 2 Part 1: Analysis of the First 15 Minutes – July 21, 2009 – In the video game industry the first 15 minutes of gameplay are critical for hooking the player. This article chronicles my journey as a relatively new EQ2 player in Qeynos. Although I had played it in small amounts years earlier, it felt very new for me and I wanted to see if I could approach EQ2 with a fresh set of eyes that a newbie to the MMO might experience from the loading screen to character screen to playing the first couple of levels.
EverQuest 2: Stranger in a Strange Land – July 23, 2009 – In this article I discussed the creepy fan rage I incurred from some EQ2 bloggers regarding my previous article which analyzed the first 15 minutes of EQ2 gameplay. After all, how dare I do such a thing?!? The morale of the story is that change is hard for people — especially entrenched communities. Watch any episode of A&E’s Hoarders and you’ll understand what I mean.
EverQuest2 Revisited Part 2: Travels in Faydwer – August 12, 2009 – My series on EQ2 resumes, this time I am in the Faydark. Eventually I make it to the wood-elf city of Kelethin where I propose a different design for that city in the trees. I conclude that EQ2 is a design mishmash but still is redeemable due to its charm and community.
EverQuest Next Articles
EverQuest Next: I Want to Believe Again – July 28, 2013 – My recent article where I come out of hibernation and talk about what I would like EQ Next to be and what SOE needs to do to make it happen. If SOE includes 30% of what I wish for I’d be happy.
Reflections on the Upcoming EverQuest Next – Posted August 20, 2010 – Basically a love letter to the original EverQuest where I tried to explain the totality of the magic of EverQuest and how SOE can leverage it to make EverQuest Next. Included is a extremely long and unapologetic wishlist of features that I hope EQ Next will have. Contains analysis of the Blizzard and SOEs approach to making MMOs and the problems with SOEs management.
